Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge [Paperback]

Genetic engineering and the cloning of organisms are “the ultimate expression of the commercialization of science and the commodification of nature.… Life itself is being colonized,” according to renowned environmentalist Vandana Shiva. The resistance to this biopiracy, she argues, is the struggle to conserve both cultural and biological diversity. As the land, forests, oceans, and atmosphere have already been colonized, eroded, and polluted, corporations are now looking for new colonies to exploit and invade for further accumulation—in Shiva’s view, the interior spaces of the bodies of women, plants, and animals. Featuring a new introduction by the author, this edition ofBiopiracyis a learned, clear, and passionately stated objection to the ways in which Western businesses are being allowed to expropriate natural processes and traditional forms of knowledge.
“Biopiracyis a path-breaking work on one of the most important issues of the coming century.… Vandana Shiva's inspiring book is a clarion call … (that) should be widely read and discussed by everyone concerned by the fate of the Earth.”
—Jeremy Rifkin, author ofThe Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power Is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and the WorldandThe Zero Marginal Cost Society: The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism
 
“With her characteristic blend of analysis and passion, Vandana Shiva traces the continuity from the European colonization of 'native' peoples … to the present appropriation of the natural resources they need for their physical and cultural survival. An important book that should be read by anyone wanting to understand the global threat posed by the technological transformations of organisms, cells, and molecules and by their exploitation and profit.”
—Ruth Hubbard, professor emerita ol1